Headphone amp

[carter]

Hello all,

went out last month to pick up some bose qc 25s but ended up coming home with some p7s,I didn't intend to spend that much but after listening to them it was a done deal.

ive been more than happy with them hooked up to my 5s or Mac mini but was wondering if I could get an improvement with an amp either portable (fiio type thing) or a small home amp.

im playing apple lossless or 32o files but could use some kind of streaming service in the future.

not sure if richer sounds or seven oaks have headphone amps to demo so would be good to no if any shops have these kind of things to try(could try unilet at some point)

im more than happy with how they sound direct from my devices to be honest,but as This is my first pair of proper headphones would be good to get some advice.

cheers

 

[Vladimir]

Absolutely no need for a headphone amp with those P7s. Get yourself one of these for the phone and don't hoard any more boxes. Enjoy both sound and style.

 

[carter]

Hi, thanks ro reply.

no need for a headphone amp.....interesting,would be good to no why some headphones need an amp and some don't.

ive heard it said some headphones are "easy to drive"

does the lack of noise cancelling gadgets make this easier or open back vs closed back make a difference (not sure what the p7s are)

anyway always good to save money ;-)

oh and the case is not really my thing......will stick with my trusty old otterbox

 

[Vladimir]

Good news but not because I want to save you money. I really enjoy spending other people's money. You really would not utilize any advantages from a separate headphone amp, just fiddle with an extra gadget during listening.

1) The B&W P7 is 22ohms and 111dBV efficient. They were designed to go loud with portable devices like your iphone 5s.

2) The maximum power you can push continuosly in the P7 is 50mW. Most headphone amps deliver much more than that at 22ohms. Complete overkill, you may even accidentaly blow your headphones.

3) The iphone 5 and 6 have very good DAC and headphone amp capabilities. They are quite transparent (low output impedance) and will maintain a flat FR with easy to drive headphones.

Only reason why you might want a separate amp is your personal preference to turn a knob instead of pushing buttons or swiping touch screens. Other reason might be the feeling that without an amp your kit is somehow incomplete or you are not giving these nice classy headphones proper treatment by driving them with your phone. All in all, if you buy an amp it will be due to audio nervosa. *wink*

Just to leave you in further suffering, I'd recommend the Fiio Kilimanjaro E11.

 

[dalethorn]

A FiiO E17k played from a 5s through the LOD using a FiiO L3 cable and Apple adapter will sound better than the 5s alone. The iPhone 6 is much better than the 5 series, so has less need for an amp. If you want an amp for a computer, try one of the USB mini-DACs like the Microstreamer, Audioengine D3, etc.

 

[Vladimir]

Ken Rockwell's review of the iPhone5 (with measurements)

[size="+2"]Summary[/size]

Confirming what I hear with critical listening, the iPhone 5 is a wonderful high-fidelity audio source. While publications funded mostly by advertisements from makers of expensive cables, power conditioners and outboard DACs don't want you to know this, the iPhone 5 is a better audio source than most DACs will be when connected to a computer or CD transport. The only difference is that the iPhone has a level 6 dB lower than a proper CD player, but the iPhone still has more output at 1 V full-scale than some outboard audiophile DACs! (Stereophile wrote that "The iPod's measured behavior is better than many CD players" back when the iPod first came out and was only considered as a toy and not as a better player than most of the exotic fluff gear out today.)

The iPhone lacks a fan or hard drive, so it runs silently as it plays from its buffered solid-state memory.

The iPhone 5 has the additional benefits of being self-powered, so you have no ground loops as you will when using AC-powered gear or anything connected to a computer via a electrically conductive cable.

Ignore those who confuse the iPhone with crappy MP3 players; the iPhone has wonderful audio quality for serious music listening either directly with good or great headphones or plugged into the rest of your high fidelity system.

Enjoy your iPhone!

 

[dalethorn]

There is a way you can understand what an amp will do for an iPhone5/5s: Play some music that you're extremely familiar with with the amp for several minutes**, then switch to the iPhone5/5s by itself right in the middle of the music track, and you'll hear what you're missing. Don't try in a store, since the noise floor is too high.

**Don't waste your time feeding the amp from the headphone jack - use the LOD as described above.

 

[Vladimir]

For the cheap prices Fiio goes for I agree it would be a fun experiment for Carter. I really don't care if he spirals down the hole of endless consumerism like we did. *biggrin*

 

[carter]

Cheers for the your points of views chaps,I've read a couple of times over the years about bypassing the audio jack and using the direct feed would improve the sound but never actually tried it.

wouldnt mind giving it a whirl but not sure who has these on demo Evan if I wanted to try and like mentioned on a busy shop floor isn't the best.

gives me something to think about anyway (that's sometimes the best bit)

oh and don't worry about me falling down the consumer hole.........I'm already at the bottom ;-)

 

[john1000000boy]

I have p7s and a Fiio mont blank to go into my iPad air. Use it to listen to spotify premium.

I use it with an apple adapter to go into the fiio in line adapter.

I have not been listening to a lot of music on my iPad of late. Using sky go at bed time to watch the west wing.

The fiio is sitting on a shelf. Haven't used it in ages. If you go to my system thread you will see it there..

i would say that there is an improvement in sq. it is certainly louder! There seems to be more air to recordings... Perhaps creating a wider soundstage.

I would agree with the other replies however. The P7s were designed for on the go use with iPhones etc in mind. They are easy to drive.

If I was commuting a lot and listening to music on a plane or train for say a long journey. The fiio would definitely be packed.

Just not used a lot of late.

Btw I bought mine blind. It arrived before I picked up my p7s.

There are lots of fiio products..

John

 

[Steiner]

Hello Carter

I Just bought the "Topping NX1" portable Amp (30 Euro on Ebay) for use with my B&W P7´s. Up until now I have been using the P7`s un-amplified with either Iphone 5S or an Ipod Classic. I play FLAC files on the Iphone using Ampliflac app or ALAC and 320 kbps MP3 on the Ipod. For use with the Ipod i also bought a Fiio L3 LOD Cable (12 Pounds on Ebay), which bypasses the Ipods Amp completely,

The result is astonishing! NX1 and Ipod using LOD cable is very impressive, considering the music source. The Bass thightens whitout loosing any depth, and becomes more punchy. The treble becomes even more sparkly and the soundstage opens up big time.

The NX1 also improves the Iphone, but using the headphone socket on the Iphone does not come close to the Ipods 30 pin LOD connector. Anyway - For the Money paid the NX1 is an absolute steal. Highly recommended!

For more insight regarding the Topping NX1 look up the thread on www.head-fi.org